With restaurant stardom a dim prospect, U.S. chef moves in private circles

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Zoe Mezin ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, March 15, 2006

PARIS - In the land of haute cuisine, American chef Jessie Dardar has carved out a path-breaking niche - whipping up meals for French high society in their very own kitchens.

As more French families abandon time-consuming gourmand traditions, Dardar offers yet another American import: the chance to enjoy quality cooking at home but on someone else's time.

Increasing numbers of French people are

yielding to frozen or fast foods, making France one of the most promising markets for prepared items like frozen pizzas and the once-dreaded Big Mac.

Even when the food is prepared at home, the traditional four-course, sit-down dinner has given way to two courses. And some people are surrendering their hallowed kitchens, allowing others to slice and saute in their place.

Six years ago, Dardar opened his personal

chef business in this city known for exporting - not importing - culinary savoir-faire. Training

in some of France's most prestigious kitchens helped. So did winning an award in 2000 for best startup idea from Paris' Small Business Trade Show.

Still, some people were skeptical of Dardar's culinary skill.

"They'd ask me if I was going to cook McDonald's for them," Dardar said, chuckling. "The French have this concept that Americans don't know how to cook."

Today, his customers include CEOs, movie producers and fashion designers.

It helped that Dardar hailed from Louisiana, a state that has retained strong cultural ties to France since Napoleon sold it to the United States in 1803.

"I tell my clients I'm from Louisiana and they say, 'Oh, that means you're half French,"' said Dardar, who infuses his cooking with back-home staples like shrimp, crawfish and oysters.

Dardar, 35, moved to France in 1997 to be with his French girlfriend,
Maud Brochot
, who is now his wife and the driving force behind his personal chef business.

He was eventually named cook at Trois Gros, a restaurant in eastern France boasting the Michelin Guide's coveted three stars.

However, Dardar soon discovered that "as an American, to advance in a Michelin restaurant is very difficult."

Foreigners make up more than half of the kitchen staff in most restaurants. Japanese, American and British chefs often work for little or no pay and consider the experience a valuable apprenticeship highly marketable in their homelands.

But a restaurant's head chef, whose identity permeates the restaurant, almost always needs to be French, Dardar said.

Dardar seized on the budding trend of personal chefs in the United States and translated it to a French clientele accustomed to spending mightily for their meal.

For Dardar's prosperous clients, freshness is key - especially when it is someone else who spends

hours rooting out ingredients in Paris' open-air markets.

Rather than cooking large batches of food to freeze, a common practice among personal chefs in the United States, Dardar cooks single meals. Finicky clients can select from a seasonal menu or request a personal favorite.

Two personal chefs - both French - were operating in Paris when Dardar started his business in 2000. Now, there are more than 40, including another American, said
Frederic Rame
, president of the Montpellier-based
Association of Personal Chefs
.

"It's great to hand over the kitchen keys to someone and not have to do anything," said
Isabelle Bidart
, a working mother of three who booked Dardar in January for her foodie husband's birthday.

Dardar doesn't feel bound by centuries of tradition or the French concept of culinary "correctness." A recent dessert creation: pineapple, cucumber and coriander salad with cucumber and coconut sorbet.

Even as French-American relations soured over Iraq in 2003, Dardar said he was never forced to choose between French fries or freedom fries.

"My clients are more sophisticated than that," said Dardar, who charges 45 to 160 euros per person for three- to five-course meals, or about $55 to $147.

Dardar employs four chefs, and offers the services of a sommelier and classes on cooking to a predominantly French clientele.

"Who knew a small-town boy from Louisiana could make it cooking in France?" Dardar said. "Even I can't believe it sometimes."